The 2022 Gran Turismo World Series esports finals came to an end this week-end, and while production was above everything else in the field, the competitive part itself has been quite controversial over the whole week.
The event was run over 4 days, featuring 3 separate championships: the Toyota Gazoo Racing Cup, the Manufacturers Cup and the Nations Cup. A Pro-Am race with media and celebrities, and a Pros vs Sophy AI race were also hosted, but not livestreamed. Several pro real-life racers guests were present: Kazuki Nakajima handed out the TGRC trophy, Lewis Hamilton gave a conf-call interview (due to airport issues, he couldn't be on site) and Esteban Ocon ran the Pro-Am race.
The Monaco venue saw a number of interesting cars decorating the stage and its surroundings, with Toyota bringing the Le Mans winning GR010, and Ferrari unveiling a unique car. The stage itself looked even more professional than before, with a new press conference area that brought the simracing event even closer to looking like a real racing week-end.
That is until the racing part got involved. While some of it was exciting, especially the Manufacturers final with changing weather conditions on Spa providing a great show, two points tainted the whole effort. The first was technical issues: every series saw retirements due to rig malfunctions, either due to a wheel problem, a game bug or a screen turning off mid-race. The retirement of Valerio Gallo, 2021 Nations Cup champion, looked especially bad as it left him stuck on the grid for a whole lap as the pack came back to the start line with the car still sitting there. It was only removed after nearly creating a massive crash, while everyone was expecting the race to be red flagged and restarted, as has been done in the past in similar situations.
The second point, which triggered a lot of reactions on social media and in simracing communities, was the inconsistent and generally light stewarding. Several shunts were punished with light 2 seconds penalties allowing the offender to stay in front of their victims, while push to pass moves were generally unpunished, such as the last lap, last corner attempt from Coque Lopez which allowed him to grab the Nations Cup title away from Angel Inostroza at the last minute. The stewarding decision, which came after a several minutes long deliberation, prompted a global lashout from many active and retired pro simracers, as the mood on stage was instantly killed, according to people present at the venue.
Here's Angel Inostroza's comment during the press conference held right after the race: https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx6TtMl1gQHznbVKhOF15BimFj7P7o0I9W
As for the results of the event:
The event was run over 4 days, featuring 3 separate championships: the Toyota Gazoo Racing Cup, the Manufacturers Cup and the Nations Cup. A Pro-Am race with media and celebrities, and a Pros vs Sophy AI race were also hosted, but not livestreamed. Several pro real-life racers guests were present: Kazuki Nakajima handed out the TGRC trophy, Lewis Hamilton gave a conf-call interview (due to airport issues, he couldn't be on site) and Esteban Ocon ran the Pro-Am race.
The Monaco venue saw a number of interesting cars decorating the stage and its surroundings, with Toyota bringing the Le Mans winning GR010, and Ferrari unveiling a unique car. The stage itself looked even more professional than before, with a new press conference area that brought the simracing event even closer to looking like a real racing week-end.
That is until the racing part got involved. While some of it was exciting, especially the Manufacturers final with changing weather conditions on Spa providing a great show, two points tainted the whole effort. The first was technical issues: every series saw retirements due to rig malfunctions, either due to a wheel problem, a game bug or a screen turning off mid-race. The retirement of Valerio Gallo, 2021 Nations Cup champion, looked especially bad as it left him stuck on the grid for a whole lap as the pack came back to the start line with the car still sitting there. It was only removed after nearly creating a massive crash, while everyone was expecting the race to be red flagged and restarted, as has been done in the past in similar situations.
The second point, which triggered a lot of reactions on social media and in simracing communities, was the inconsistent and generally light stewarding. Several shunts were punished with light 2 seconds penalties allowing the offender to stay in front of their victims, while push to pass moves were generally unpunished, such as the last lap, last corner attempt from Coque Lopez which allowed him to grab the Nations Cup title away from Angel Inostroza at the last minute. The stewarding decision, which came after a several minutes long deliberation, prompted a global lashout from many active and retired pro simracers, as the mood on stage was instantly killed, according to people present at the venue.
Here's Angel Inostroza's comment during the press conference held right after the race: https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx6TtMl1gQHznbVKhOF15BimFj7P7o0I9W
As for the results of the event:
- The Toyota Gazoo Racing Cup was won by Igor Fraga, who cheekily proceeded to ask Kazuki Nakajima if Toyota would offer him a drive. Kylian Drumont took second place, while Takuma Sasaki completed the podium.
- Manufacturers Cup saw Team Subaru (Daniel Solis / Kylian Drumont / Takuma Miyazono) snatching the win away from runner-up Toyota (Igor Fraga / Nikita Moysov / Ryota Kokubun) and Mercedes (Lucas Bonelli / Baptiste Beauvois / Syunsuke Tsuboi) after an intense battle for the lead in the latter stages of the partly wet race, with tyre choice proving to play a critical role. As 1st and 2nd were tied in points, the result of the final race was the tiebreaker.
- Nations Cup was won by Coque Lopez in front of Angel Inostroza, who both delivered a very solid race until the controversial finish. Igor Fraga ended up taking 3rd, making him the only driver to score a podium in every series, with him standing on every step during the week. Once again, Lopez and Inostroza being tied on points, they were separated by the final race's finishing positions.
